Recent letters accused me of Biblical ignorance and being against the Ten Commandments. I don't argue with the validity of the Commandments. Having studied the Bible and Theology, I take exception to those attempts to divert attention from my point that this attempt to force one particular religion into the schools opens a Pandora's box of unintended, undesirable consequences threatening relgious freedom.
Exodus doesn't number the Commandments. They're in 17 verses. The traditional wording and numerical sequence are different in Jewish, Catholic and Protestant listings. Using one over the other gives preference to one religion. Will other religions be able to display in schools? What? Who decides?
Making schools the battleground for competing religions won't help students. If anyone thinks these displays won't lead to divisive, disruptive proselytizing, I've some land in Palestine I'll sell cheap.
The notion that posting the Commandments will solve anything is naive, absurd, counterproductive and demeans real Christian spirituality. The power isn't in words, outward displays, siege mentality or public rantings. It's in the heart. Letting the light of God's Love flow silently from the heart makes everything else unnecessary and insignificant. Doing otherwise denies the power of the Love.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
COMMANDMENTS SHOW DISRESPECT (RCJ Jan. 30, 2000)
Demanding schools display the Ten Commandments (four of which speak to realtions with God) shows disrespect and intolerance toward other faiths and beliefs. Disrespect and intolerance are the root of our problems. This doesn't resolve the problems. It compounds them.
If the Commandments are displayed, will we allow exerpts from Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Church of the Creator, Sun Worshippers, Wiccans, etc. Constitutionally we won't have a choice. Confusing messages?
Morality isn't about rigid adherence to rules and ritual. Christ took us beyond that. Morality's about how we treat and respect each other. Unconditional love, respect and tolerance are the core of Christian spirituality. Those unable to overcome fear, hatred and prejudice resort to ritualistic, legalistic nitpicking and turn Christianity into something hateful, divisive and coercive.
The problem isn't in the schools. When the young hear relgious leaders, parents, civic leaders and other adults(?) spouting hate, inolerance and prejudice, the seeds are sown.
Let the light of unconditonal Christian love shine forth and there'll be no need for coercion. Moraltiy lies in the heart not in external displays. Is simply promoting "Respect Thy Neighbor" too hypocritical for the Religious Riech?
If the Commandments are displayed, will we allow exerpts from Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Church of the Creator, Sun Worshippers, Wiccans, etc. Constitutionally we won't have a choice. Confusing messages?
Morality isn't about rigid adherence to rules and ritual. Christ took us beyond that. Morality's about how we treat and respect each other. Unconditional love, respect and tolerance are the core of Christian spirituality. Those unable to overcome fear, hatred and prejudice resort to ritualistic, legalistic nitpicking and turn Christianity into something hateful, divisive and coercive.
The problem isn't in the schools. When the young hear relgious leaders, parents, civic leaders and other adults(?) spouting hate, inolerance and prejudice, the seeds are sown.
Let the light of unconditonal Christian love shine forth and there'll be no need for coercion. Moraltiy lies in the heart not in external displays. Is simply promoting "Respect Thy Neighbor" too hypocritical for the Religious Riech?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
BIBLICAL CREATION IS ALLEGORICAL (RCJ Sept. 17, 1999)
I have questions for advocates of Genesis-based science. Heaven and earth were created on the first day, the sun on the fourth. Doesn't the earth revolve around the sun? Second day came night and day. From where did the light come? How're days measured? Light speed, time distance and astronomy wrong?
Third day came plants. Don't plants live by sunlight? Photogenisis and Botany wrong? The fifth day came animals and birds. The delicate interplay between plants and animals in ecology wrong? If we descended from Adam and Eve, shouldn't we all have the same DNA? Genetics wrong? Creation science? Where's the science?
Genesis was written by scientifically illiterate people attempting to explain God in creation. It's allegory!
Science doesn't deny God in creation. It only helps our understanding of it. Citing the universe's intelligent order as proof of God's existance, then denying that order defending ancient ignorance is absurd.
Creation wasn't performed by an ignorant God. Scientific principles are His principles. Our understanding is evolving and growing. Scientific knowledge needn't threaten faith only arrogance and ignorance. Don't deny the God-given intelligence which seperates humankind from lower life forms attempting to disprove his descendance from them.
Third day came plants. Don't plants live by sunlight? Photogenisis and Botany wrong? The fifth day came animals and birds. The delicate interplay between plants and animals in ecology wrong? If we descended from Adam and Eve, shouldn't we all have the same DNA? Genetics wrong? Creation science? Where's the science?
Genesis was written by scientifically illiterate people attempting to explain God in creation. It's allegory!
Science doesn't deny God in creation. It only helps our understanding of it. Citing the universe's intelligent order as proof of God's existance, then denying that order defending ancient ignorance is absurd.
Creation wasn't performed by an ignorant God. Scientific principles are His principles. Our understanding is evolving and growing. Scientific knowledge needn't threaten faith only arrogance and ignorance. Don't deny the God-given intelligence which seperates humankind from lower life forms attempting to disprove his descendance from them.
Monday, February 11, 2008
AMAZED: THE PENN: Jan 17,1983
(The Penn is the campus newspaper for Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana Pennsylvania where I did my graduate work.)
Letter to the Editor:
I would like to begin by thanking the editors of The Penn for their courage displayed in their editorial on Discrimination of Nov. 29. As a Gay man who spent four years in the Navy during Vietnam and who is now politically public about his homosexuality, I can appreciate the courage it takes to make such a stand. I would like to respond to the letters that appeared on Dec. 6th in reponse to that editorial.
I couldn't help but chuckle over the comment by Mr. Deabenderfer that because of him (I presume his attitude towards homosexuals) "No homosexual is going to part of this man's Marine Corps." Having served in the Hospital Corps, I came into contact with a great many Marines. And, it was not always in the line of duty. There are homosexuals in the Marine Corps as well as everywhere else. The statistics indicate that one out of every ten people are Gay.
Yes, your attitude and that of the military as a whole, Mr. Deabenderfer, does keep some Gay people out of the military, but obviously not all. It is this attitude based upon the emotions of ignorance and misinformation that we are fighting all across the contry. It is this attitude which causes the oppression and the fear that Gay people live under. It causes people to be suspicious and to fear one another and their own emotions.
If I were in a situation in which I had to depend upon another person for my survival, I would much rather have it be a Gay person who has dealt with their emotions and are comfortable with them, than someone who was at war with himself and more frightened of me and their own emotions than the enemy.
Which brings me to Ms. Severino's letter. She has made a great many assumptions which I find to be rather humorous. She seems to think that Gay people will be more interested in sex than staying alive. The absurdity of that opinion astounds me. Gay people have always been part of the military. If you look into the statistics, you will find that sexuality interferes with their duties much less than their heterosexual counterparts.
Since Ms. Severino seems to be in the military, I would like to refer to some military history. Some of the best fighting forces in history (given their level of technology) were the armies of ancient Greece and Rome. Yet these fighting forces which had large armies of Dorian Greeks, reputed to be among the best in history, were almost exclusively homosexual.
Large percentages of the armies of Alexander the Great (himself Gay) were homosexual. It only makes sense that someone is going to fight much harder and be more dedicated to their unit if their lover or lovers are part of it. The stories of heterosexuals fighting to protect their loved ones are abundant. It is no different for homosexuals.
In our present day military and indeed in our society, sexuality has ceased to be an intimate relationship, but has turned into an instrument of power and domination, and given our currrent attitudes toward sexuality, a means of degredation.
Having experienced the military first hand, I've seen how sexuality has been turned into something ugly by the very attitudes expressed in these two letters. The irony of it is that it is then wrapped in a guilty blanket of morality and we are afraid to question the basic assumptons and reach out for the truth.
If you are trully interested in knowing what you are talking about, I would invite you to review the literature. You may be amazed.
In Gay Pride
Michael M. Coats, Director
Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies
Field Associate, Gay Rights National Lobby
Letter to the Editor:
I would like to begin by thanking the editors of The Penn for their courage displayed in their editorial on Discrimination of Nov. 29. As a Gay man who spent four years in the Navy during Vietnam and who is now politically public about his homosexuality, I can appreciate the courage it takes to make such a stand. I would like to respond to the letters that appeared on Dec. 6th in reponse to that editorial.
I couldn't help but chuckle over the comment by Mr. Deabenderfer that because of him (I presume his attitude towards homosexuals) "No homosexual is going to part of this man's Marine Corps." Having served in the Hospital Corps, I came into contact with a great many Marines. And, it was not always in the line of duty. There are homosexuals in the Marine Corps as well as everywhere else. The statistics indicate that one out of every ten people are Gay.
Yes, your attitude and that of the military as a whole, Mr. Deabenderfer, does keep some Gay people out of the military, but obviously not all. It is this attitude based upon the emotions of ignorance and misinformation that we are fighting all across the contry. It is this attitude which causes the oppression and the fear that Gay people live under. It causes people to be suspicious and to fear one another and their own emotions.
If I were in a situation in which I had to depend upon another person for my survival, I would much rather have it be a Gay person who has dealt with their emotions and are comfortable with them, than someone who was at war with himself and more frightened of me and their own emotions than the enemy.
Which brings me to Ms. Severino's letter. She has made a great many assumptions which I find to be rather humorous. She seems to think that Gay people will be more interested in sex than staying alive. The absurdity of that opinion astounds me. Gay people have always been part of the military. If you look into the statistics, you will find that sexuality interferes with their duties much less than their heterosexual counterparts.
Since Ms. Severino seems to be in the military, I would like to refer to some military history. Some of the best fighting forces in history (given their level of technology) were the armies of ancient Greece and Rome. Yet these fighting forces which had large armies of Dorian Greeks, reputed to be among the best in history, were almost exclusively homosexual.
Large percentages of the armies of Alexander the Great (himself Gay) were homosexual. It only makes sense that someone is going to fight much harder and be more dedicated to their unit if their lover or lovers are part of it. The stories of heterosexuals fighting to protect their loved ones are abundant. It is no different for homosexuals.
In our present day military and indeed in our society, sexuality has ceased to be an intimate relationship, but has turned into an instrument of power and domination, and given our currrent attitudes toward sexuality, a means of degredation.
Having experienced the military first hand, I've seen how sexuality has been turned into something ugly by the very attitudes expressed in these two letters. The irony of it is that it is then wrapped in a guilty blanket of morality and we are afraid to question the basic assumptons and reach out for the truth.
If you are trully interested in knowing what you are talking about, I would invite you to review the literature. You may be amazed.
In Gay Pride
Michael M. Coats, Director
Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies
Field Associate, Gay Rights National Lobby
Thursday, February 7, 2008
NOT CHRISTIAN TO DEMONIZE OTHERS (RCJ August 22, 1999)
Z.S. Costilla's August 2 letter states it's Christian duty to expose sin. While I agree, his interpretation makes me wonder if we read the same Bible. It's Christian duty to expose and root out sin from my own heart. Not to throw stones and pass judgement on my neighbors. I can't see into their hearts.
Are churches conduits for God's Love or simply exploiting sin? Nothing pumps up the self-righteous more or fills the collection plate faster than a good ranting expose or demonization of someone else's percieved trangressions. Although economically and politically profitable, obsessing over the human dark side makes us hateful, judgemental and vindictive and isn't Christian.
God is Love. Love's opposite is hate (sin). Hate begets hate creating a vicious cycle. It's Christian duty to break that cycle by turning the other cheek. Replacing hate with unconditional love, compassion, forgiveness and respect. Have faith in the power of God's Love. Let it flow through your heart.
Finally the Bible does contradict itself. The New Testament contradicts the Old, establishing a New Covenant based on love, forgiveness and respect. If nothing changed, why Jesus? And why call ourselves Christians?
Are churches conduits for God's Love or simply exploiting sin? Nothing pumps up the self-righteous more or fills the collection plate faster than a good ranting expose or demonization of someone else's percieved trangressions. Although economically and politically profitable, obsessing over the human dark side makes us hateful, judgemental and vindictive and isn't Christian.
God is Love. Love's opposite is hate (sin). Hate begets hate creating a vicious cycle. It's Christian duty to break that cycle by turning the other cheek. Replacing hate with unconditional love, compassion, forgiveness and respect. Have faith in the power of God's Love. Let it flow through your heart.
Finally the Bible does contradict itself. The New Testament contradicts the Old, establishing a New Covenant based on love, forgiveness and respect. If nothing changed, why Jesus? And why call ourselves Christians?
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